A Dissenting Voice: A response to Soulless
by Jason Barnett
Summary: Buffy hears another opinion about Spike's actions


Disclaimer: Buffy and co. belong to Joss. The story this is a response to belongs to Tara Keezer.  
  
Authors notes: I'd like to thank Tara for allowing me to write this, and betareading it. This fic takes place the day after Soulbound.  
  
"Did you put the dust and article up, Dawn?"  
  
"Yeah. I wonder how many more Spike'll send us?"  
  
"You think he will again? Not kill, I mean. That's a given. Go to the trouble of sending us the obituary and all?"  
  
"Probably. I mean he'll probably be hunting rapists down from now on."  
  
"You think so?" Buffy asked curiously, wondering how Dawn could sound so certain. " Why rapists in particular?"  
  
"Self-loathing. Rapists remind him of what he tried to do to you. Getting rid of them helps him bury the memory."  
  
"So he's doing this for me..." She paused and shook her head resolutely. "No, I'm not going to blame myself for the actions of others. Spike's choosing to do this himself."  
  
"I thought that since he's a soulless vampire he didn't have any choice in being evil?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I mean that is what you always said. Although this seems like one of those cases where doing something bad ends up doing something good."  
  
"Dawn, there was nothing good about that. He killed a human being. There's a system..."  
  
"That failed," Dawn's tone was suddenly harder than before.  
  
"That happens."  
  
"And more women get raped because of it happening. Buffy do you remember me telling Spike that he might eventually wake up on fire. That had nothing to do with him being a demon and everything to do with him trying to rape you. My attitude wouldn't have changed if he'd come back human."  
  
"Dawn..." Buffy began then stopped unsure how to respond. She took a second to gather herself.   
  
"You don't know that. You think you might but he didn't so you don't know."  
  
"Willow told me about your reaction," Dawn's voice was taking a decidely hostile tone. "Did you really say you'd have protected him?"  
  
"Yes. He was a human being."  
  
"I can't believe that! You do know that every woman he raped after that would've been on your head!"  
  
"That's ridiculous," Buffy answered defensively. "He's the only one..."  
  
"It's not about choices. It's about stopping him from commiting crimes that hurt a lot of people. The police failed, Spike didn't. And I guarentee that a lot of that rapists victims would thank Spike. Maybe you don't have the right to go out and kill people. But that doesn't mean you have to take responsibilty for everyone's life."  
  
"Just because people might think it was right doesn't mean it was."  
  
"And just because you think it's wrong doesn't mean it was. You're not God. Willow has a right to her opinion, I have a right to mine just like you do have to right to yours. But I want to ask you one question."  
  
Buffy jumped in quickly, "What would I have done if it was me? I would've trusted the police."  
  
Dawn snorted, "That's the Slayer in you talking. You can't relate to ordinary women. You complained to me about having to pull your punches in those self defense classes. I've been through a few, and while your training helped I never had to pull any punches and neither did any other girls in my class. And it's also not the question."  
  
"Ask away."  
  
""I realize I'm decreasing the opportunities I'll ever have to actually date but what if it'd been me?"  
  
Buffy was slient for a long moment, before straightening up and looking at her sister with her version of the resolve face. "I would've trusted the police."  
  
"No real evidence. He slipped me a roofie so I didn't really fight. He's got a clean record and a ton of people who'd vouch for him. Or the police screwed up like in those cases."  
  
"Dawnie, you aren't..." Buffy was taking an oversympathetic tone with a soft expression in her eyes.  
  
"NO! This is 100% hypothetical."  
  
Buffy couldn't meet Dawn's eyes. "I don't.... I don't know."  
  
"You told the people you loved you'd kill them if they tried to kill me to save the world. I can imagine what you'd do to a stranger. Maybe it's a lesser crime, MAYBE, but then it was me against the world then and what would be a stake her is also lower.  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
"They told me the summer you were gone. I was going through a stage where I was sure you'd just abandoned me. That you sacrificing your life for me was a way to get away from the pain."  
  
"Dawnie, you know that isn't true."  
  
"It was a stage. It's passed. Really it passed as soon as they told me that. It showed me how dedicated you were to getting me out of there alive."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Now think about this. The women that guy raped were people's sisters, daughters and mothers. The victims he would've had if Spike hadn't stopped him are people's sisters, daughters and mothers." 


End file.
